Early this year, a new kid on the block, Picante, opened a Portuguese restaurant in the heart of Bur Dubai. Right smack in the middle of Bank street, in Four Points Sheraton Hotel.

I attended their pre-launch food-tasting as well as their grand opening, I thought their dishes we're above average. I really do. I had high hopes for them and I thought I would actually frequent the place.

I went there to treat my husband to a dinner on Valentine's day and it was disappointing. I felt a little embarrassed as I was raving about it a lot during the course of the month. They have all the ingredients to be a wow place even though they're in a congested area. But sadly, they just seem to not get there.

Pre-tasting yumminess!

One fabulous launch and night ... the official opening of Picante was like a gathering of friends... Portuguese speaking or not, it was all smiles. Happy people surrounded by the best Picante has to offer... delectable food.

Then guests were treated to some awesome goodie baskets! Most came straight from Portugal... we obviously feel super special... until now I'm using the salt. If I'm not mistaken this one is fleur de sel (which is French :P) and if I'm cooking something special... I definitely put a sprinkle of these.

With the whole goodies was a gift certificate and I thought it is such a perfect way for us to give Picante another try, for the third time!

I was so excited about the delicacies I tasted over the course of weeks with Picante. Witnessing the restaurant take form. Being fed in their very own kitchen like a family, my expectation was really way up there. Add to the fact that they are a licensed Restaurant, which means diners can have liquor with their meal! How can I not be sold with that?!

I took pictures of our actual Valentine's dinner but I think it's best not to post them. The piri piri chicken tasted good but nothing wow. We did enjoy trying on different sauces offered though. The issue was the oil from the chicken was so much that it became the sauce to the french fries lying on the same plate. It was a horror for me to look at hubby who at that point had eyes that questioned me though unspoken "what in the world is happening here?"

I ordered the fried bacon covered dates which I had in the first two occasions and fell in love with. The third time around, it was burnt, dry and just unpleasant.

There was a dish that my husband and I enjoyed quite a lot, it was the seafood mixed in a bowl of amazing broth. It had tiger prawn, clams, lobsters. The photo is featured in the "tasting" section above. However, looking at the current menu now, it seems to have been taken off. What a shame.

I wish I have tasted the clams again but during Valentine's dinner we lost our appetite and didn't feel like expanding our order like what we normally do.

The traditional custard called Pasteis de Nata should still be good regardless of when you try it.

I think the downfall was a combination of minor errors here and there. Consistency is one. Dish and ingredient knowledge of servers was very weak and it does affect diner's mood, unfortunately.

Will I try Picante again? Yes. I have a lot of faith to a fault. I personally hope Picante recovers and streamline their operations. Since consistency is a general issue here in the UAE, I'm hoping that they will not be consistently falling short and somewhere in there, a spark of brilliance will just suddenly emerge.